A standard motor-vehicle door latch as described in has a latch mounted on the door edge and comprising a pivotal lock fork that can engage in a closed position around a doorpost-mounted bolt to retain the door shut, a retaining pawl engageable with the bolt and movable between a holding position with the bolt held in the closed position and a freeing position allowing the fork to pivot into an open position in which the bolt can move freely out of or into the latch, at least one actuating lever that is connected to the pawl to operate it, and at least one locking lever that can block or disconnect the actuating lever. An actuator for the latch is mounted somewhat above the latch on an outer surface or panel of the door and typically comprises a mounting plate itself fixed to the door and a handle that can be moved relative to the plate. A linkage is provided between the handle and the actuating lever so that movement of the handle is transmitted to the lever to operate the latch.
In commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,262 the door latch has a vertically displaceable actuating element serving to open the latch. An actuating system for the latch has a handle, a mounting plate supporting the handle on the door above the latch, and a pivot on the mounting plate for horizontal movement of the handle on the plate between an unactuated position generally flush with the door and an actuated position spaced horizontally outward from the door. A coupling lever pivoted on the door about a horizontal axis has one arm connected to the handle and another arm. A link extends vertically between the other arm and the actuating element so that when the handle is displaced horizontally into the actuated position the lever is pivoted and the link is displaced vertically.
To assembly such a system the mounting plate carrying the coupling lever is mounted on the inner face of the outside panel of the door and secured in place by screws. The door latch is screwed to the edge of the door, that is the part of the door that engages the door post, and is coupled by the link to the lever. The coupling lever is held by means of a return spring in its starting position, with an arm to be engaged by the handle at a spacing inward from the outside door panel. During assembly the handle is fitted through appropriate holes in the outside door panel and fitted to the mounting plate, then shifted into its final position so that the fork on the pivot end of the handle fits over its pivot pin and the engagement hook on the arm of the handle slips behind the one arm of the coupling lever. After such mounting of the handle a retaining hook is slipped under the outside door panel and secured in place on the opposite end with a screw to retain the handle.
In the known latch the handle is provided between its ends with a relatively short finger-protecting bump. The function of this structure is to prevent the user's fingers from getting pinched between the handle and the door panel. The height of the protecting bump is limited so that it does not interfere with insertion of the entrainment hook through the hole in mounting plate for sliding behind the first arm of the coupling lever. In order to avoid that the protecting bump engages the outer face of the door the other arm of the coupling lever must be manually pushed back to pivot the lever against its return spring. This constitutes another assembly step that slows production of the vehicle because the first arm of the coupling lever must be held from inside while the handle is installed from outside, making the assembly a tricky two-handed operation that would require a further step in production or an overall slowing of production.